The Second Annual Knights of Columbus Family Picnic is scheduled for Sunday, September 30, 2012 starting at 3:00 pm with dinner at 4:30 pm, at Country Club Glen Park, 16335 Sheridan Avenue, Clive. The park is north of Hickman between 156th St. and Alice’s Road. The Council covers the cost of the picnic (hamburgers, brats, hotdogs, baked beans, potato salad, and of course… beverages) as a way of saying “Thank you” to all the members, and especially the families, for everyone’s commitment to the Knights all year long! You are welcome to bring a salad or dessert to share, if you wish.

This picnic allows us to socialize with brother Knights and to gather our families together. We will have some games for the kids to play. This is a great opportunity for all Knights who cannot make the usual monthly meetings to meet the officer group and receive updated information on the latest council activities. Bring a friend who wants to know more about the Knights!

It’s time to dawn those handsome yellow smocks, hand out a few sweet iconic treats, and raise some money for children with disabilities.

Your first opportunity to help with the 2012 tootsie roll drive starts on Friday, August 24th and runs through Sunday, August 26th. Use the following links to secure your spot. The best time slots will go fast.

This year we’ve added a second weekend (Friday, September 7th through Sunday, September 9th), so there’s twice as much opportunity to participate. Use the following links to sign up for the second weekend.

We are looking for three nights to be store captains for the second weekend. Contact Jeff Hoemann at jeffhoemann@mchsi.com if you’re interested in being a store captain.

Sign up sheets will be available at the upcoming council meeting on Tuesday night. Kids are welcome (and highly encouraged) to participate. This is one of our most significant fund raisers, so strong participation is critical for a successful outcome. Thank you in advance for your help.

Father George Komo would like for a group of men to come out to his home village in Kenya to see his home parish and visit with the people of Africa. The purpose of the trip would be to see if his parish and St. Francis could be sister parishes. Currently St. Francis has no sister parishes anywhere.

A secondary purpose would be to see if bi-annual trips would be worthwhile to either help with a project and/or expose our council-parish to other catholic cultures in places other than America.

The cost would be the responsibility of the individual Knight. Estimated cost for the trip including transportation, lodging and food would be $4,500 – $6,000 per person. The trip would last 6-9 days depending on what the group of travelers decides. After landing in Kenya, a bus would take the group to the village about 2 hours away. While there you would visit some of the poorer areas of Kenya, spend a couple of days in the village that Father George was born in and go on a safari. Father George would be there and we would have a guide. The time of travel would be during the last week of January and the first week of February, 2013.

If you would like to learn more about this once in a lifetime opportunity please send a message to Dave Roszak at CPA_D @aol.com (no spaces) or call him at 515-664-1295. An ideal group of men would be 6-10. If we do not get the required interest Father will open the invitation up to the entire Council so let Dave know soon if you are interested.

The Serra Club would like to invite you to a dinner and live auction on August 12 at St. Francis Church in support of seminarian education. RSVP deadline is August 6th. See the following registration form for more details.